The Neotropical thynnine genus Scotaena is revised and a cladistic analysis is presented. The analysis, conducted from 75 morphological characters of 31 terminal taxa, returned a single tree under equal weighting. The monophyly of Scotaena was not recovered. Three new genera and five new species are described: Kaysara gen. nov., Pseudoscotaena gen. nov. and Pampathynnus gen. nov., Scotaena reversa sp. nov., Kaysara laterolata sp. nov., Kaysara apiciconcava sp. nov., Kaysara marginoplicata sp. nov. and Kaysara levicrenata sp...

Protandrenini includes approximately 420 species of short-tongued bees, which are exclusively distributed in the Americas (Michener 2007; Moure et al. 2007; Ascher Pickering 2017). Members of this tribe are mostly found in xeric and temperate areas in South America, and their diversity is still greatly underestimated. In fact, a major challenge to the systematics of Protandrenini is the outstanding number of species unplaced in genera or awaiting formal description (Ruz Chiappa 2004; Ramos Melo 2006; Michener 2007; Moure et al...

The Tersilochinae fauna of Finland is critically revised (except subgenera Tersilochus Holmgren and Euporizon Horstmann). Tersilochinae in two principal Finnish ichneumonid collections, the Finnish Natural History Museum LUOMUS (University of Helsinki) and the private collection of R. Jussila (Turku), have been examined. Thirteen genera and 61 species are found to occur in Finland, including one new species, Barycnemis finnora Khalaim, sp. nov. The Nearctic genus Ctenophion Horstmann is recorded from Finland, as well as from the Palaearctic region, for the first time...

New taxa from the subfamily Landrevinae (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) are expected despite recent work on its taxonomy. Here, two more new species from Brunei Darussalam, Borneo are described: Duolandrevus (Eulandrevus) kawataredoki sp. nov. and Endodrelanva nympha sp. nov. The male calling song of D. (E.) kawataredoki sp. nov. is also described. We report the occurrence of a Duolandrevus (Bejorama) from Brunei close to (nr.) luzonensis Otte, 1988. We also document from Brunei a case of parasitic wasp from the genus Liris (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Larrini) hunting a Landrevinae...

The Apoidea represent a large and common superfamily of the Hymenoptera including the bees and sphecid wasps. A robust phylogenetic tree is essential to understanding the diversity, taxonomy and evolution of the Apoidea. In this study, features of apoid mitochondrial genomes were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships. Twelve apoid mitochondrial genomes were newly sequenced, representing six families and nine subfamilies. Gene rearrangement events have occurred in all apoid mitochondrial genomes sequenced to date...

The state of Michigan occupies an area between the Great Plains and the northeastern United States, bordering four Great Lakes, with diverse biogeographical regions. Michigan also has the second most diverse agriculture in the country, with many crops that depend on bees for pollination. This unique combination provides a wide range of opportunities for bees to persist, yet there is no current published checklist of these important insects. This study was conducted to provide the first annotated checklist of the bee (Apoidea: Anthophila) fauna of Michigan, summarizing aspects of their taxonomy and behavior and to provide provisional conservation assessment...

Accurate fossil identification has become increasingly relevant with the widespread use of phylogenetic divergence time estimation methods, which rely on fossil data to determine clade hard-minimum ages. Here we revise, diagnose and illustrate known spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) fossil species and place them within the latest Pompilidae phylogenetic hypothesis. Ceropalites infelix Cockerell, from the Florissant Fossil Beds (Priabonian), is no longer recognized as Pompilidae, but as Aulacidae. Agenioideus saxigenus (Cockerell) comb...

There is an ongoing campaign to DNA barcode the world's >20 000 bee species. Recent revisions of Lasioglossum (Dialictus) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) for Canada and the eastern United States were completed using integrative taxonomy. DNA barcode data from 110 species of L. (Dialictus) are examined for their value in identification and discovering additional taxonomic diversity. Specimen identification success was estimated using the best close match method. Error rates were 20% relative to current taxonomic understanding...

Genitalia are rich source of characters in insect taxonomy. Usually, they are examined after dissection and cleaning with potassium hydroxide (KOH), procedure that may damage both genital morphological structures and intracellular molecular contents. Enzymatic procedure with Proteinase K has been used to clean muscle off the genitalia while extract DNA, but its damage to the genital structures has not been evaluated. Herein, we qualitatively compare the use of KOH and Proteinase K to prepare genital structures in minute insects (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae)...

The ant genus Camponotus (Mayr, 1861) is one of the most abundant and species rich ant genera in the Malagasy zoogeographical region. Although this group is commonly encountered, its taxonomy is far from complete. Here, we clarify the taxonomy of the Malagasy-endemic Camponotus subgenus Myrmopytia (Emery, 1920). Species delimitation was based on traditional morphological characters and multivariate morphometric analyses, including exploratory Nest Centroid clustering and confirmatory cross-validated Linear Discriminant Analysis...

The genus Sericomyrmex Mayr (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini) is a Neotropical group of fungus-farming ants known for its problematic taxonomy, caused by low morphological variability across the species, vague and old species descriptions, and an outdated and incomplete key published in 1916. Recent molecular studies revealed that Sericomyrmex is the product of a rapid recent radiation, with a divergence date of 4.3 million years ago. Here we present a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the genus Sericomyrmex based on morphology and a recently published molecular phylogeny...

The southern distribution of stingless bees in the Neotropics reaches the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, up to 34°51' S in latitude, where two species of Plebeia are found on the west margin of the Río de La Plata: P. emerinoides (Silvestri), and P. droryana (Friese). In this area some relicts of gallery forest occur and the climate is moderated by the large water mass of the river. The taxonomy of both species is discussed. Diagnoses, updated distribution, and illustrations of some morphological features are given for both species...

We report the rediscovery of the exceedingly rarely collected and enigmatic fungus-farming ant species Mycetosoritis asper. Since the description of the type specimen in 1887, only four additional specimens are known to have been added to the world's insect collections. Its biology is entirely unknown and its phylogenetic position within the fungus-farming ants has remained puzzling due to its aberrant morphology. In 2014 we excavated and collected twenty-one colonies of M. asper in the Floresta Nacional de Chapecó in Santa Catarina, Brazil...

The taxonomy of the genus Xylocopa Latreille, 1802, subgenus Xenoxylocopa Hurd & Moure, 1963, is reviewed. There is a single valid species in this subgenus, Xylocopa (Xenoxylocopa) inconstans Smith, 1874, which is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia and south to northern Republic of South Africa. Synonyms of Xylocopa inconstans include Xylocopa abyssinica Radoszkowski, 1899, proposed for a male specimen from Ethiopia, as well as three names proposed for females with yellow (rather than white) dorsal pubescence: Mesotrichia chiyakensis Cockerell, 1908 (new synonym), Xylocopa inconstans var...

Leptogenys brevilobasp. n., Leptogenys curvasp. n., Leptogenys itoisp. n., Leptogenys kanaoisp. n., Leptogenys malayanasp. n., and Leptogenys modiglianii Emery, 1900 are described from southeast Asia. The Leptogenys modiglianii species group is proposed on the basis of similarities among the six species. An identification key to species in this group from southeast Asia is provided.

We explore the potential of x-ray micro computed tomography (μCT) for the field of ant taxonomy by using it to enhance the descriptions of two remarkable new species of the ant genus Terataner: T. balrog sp. n. and T. nymeria sp. n.. We provide an illustrated worker-based species identification key for all species found on Madagascar, as well as detailed taxonomic descriptions, which include diagnoses, discussions, measurements, natural history data, high-quality montage images and distribution maps for both new species...

The frequency and the geographical extent of symbiotic associations between ants and fungi of the order Chaetothyriales have been highlighted only recently. Using a phylogenetic approach based on seven molecular markers, we showed that ant-associated Chaetothyriales are scattered through the phylogeny of this order. There was no clustering according to geographical origin or to the taxonomy of the ant host. However, strains tended to be clustered according to the type of association with ants: strains from ant-made carton and strains from plant cavities occupied by ants ('domatia') rarely clustered together...